There was no mercy, even if the Herrscher in her dream was using her brother's character model.
A flurry of flawless flower clusters cascaded from the sky, blanketing the tiny area in the distance. They were instantly shredded by the impact of the blast, but the remaining shockwave of the mushroom bomb failed to inflict further ruin upon the already devastated city.
"Ha... haha..."
Elysia let out a faint, hollow laugh, her tense shoulders relaxing slightly.
Thank goodness. She had made it in time.
Now, a heavily wounded Herrscher of Reason would no longer be much of a threat.
"Resolution... as frost and snow melt away."
With a low murmur, elemental power converged frantically upon her newly manifested bowstring. Elysia drew the bow to its limit, aiming at the shattered dome.
The dome collapsed under the pressure, followed immediately by seven elemental arrows trailing cold starlight. Like spears of judgment, they pierced the target, and the flower clusters blossomed in full.
There were no heart-shaped embellishments this time—only a pure, destructive bloom that tore and annihilated everything trapped beneath the dome.
"It's over..."
Elysia's fingertips loosened, her expression one of unreadable vacancy.
After all, this was just a dream. A moment later, the flying petals dispersed, and she descended into the crater nearly a hundred meters deep. The Herrscher's mangled body was still struggling to repair itself, but under such a high-magnitude strike, 99.9% of the nanomachines had been destroyed.
[Please choose your upgrade path]
Hive Mind 5 → Twin Familiars
Attack Speed 4 → 5
Artillery Support 3 → 4
Under the physics rules of the Open World, the massive pit formed a perfect cone. All experience points within hundreds of meters slid down the slope, filling the final gap of Level 14.
"Cough... cough..."
The screen, which had gone almost completely dark, flickered back to life. Kaito watched the boss standing calmly before him. He didn't even have the energy to curse the designer—mostly because the designer's "mother" had probably passed away during the rendering of that Flawless Dome.
"It's over."
With his limbs pinned, Elysia knelt down calmly. Logically, she should have killed him immediately.
But then again... was a Herrscher more valuable alive?
If she didn't plan on hiding her power anymore, she could suppress him twenty-four hours a day.
"Oh, the special dialogue has voice acting now?" The screen flickered. Kaito tilted his head, surprised.
"Spend the rest of your life atoning for your sins," Elysia said.
She was considering whether she needed to find some rope to keep up appearances when a soldier's voice called out from the distance.
"Officer! Do you need rope?"
It was high-strength nylon. Trace (Hime) was hesitating in the distance, unsure if he should approach. The power Elysia had just displayed didn't seem quite... human.
Kaito looked at the "Elite Mob" rushing over. He couldn't hear what the guy was saying, but he saw the rope.
That left him with no choice. In an Open World, the thing players fear most is being spawn-camped or restrained.
He chose Twin Familiars first. Then, every nanomachine mimicked onto his body began to dissolve. As the elite mob drew closer, Kaito compressed his final remnants of energy into a single bullet and fired it through the air!
Though the boss caught it with one hand, a golden needle hidden within the bullet performed a secondary acceleration.
It didn't seem to kill her; she appeared to have dodged it.
The screen was too blurry for Kaito to be sure of the effect, but the boss started talking again, her voice full of rage—this time returning to that noisy, distorted electronic state.
"This Level 15... is my gift to you, Miss Boss," Kaito forced a silent smile. His Level 4 reconstructed creations began to vanish, feeding a small amount of Honkai energy back into his restrained, broken body, allowing him to lift his head once more.
"I'll see you in the next cycle."
The semi-mechanical heart shattered. His body dissolved for the most part, leaving only the glowing Level 15 Herrscher Core to drop into the dirt, shining brilliantly.
Despite his total death, two glittering golden characters popped up on the screen: CLEAR.
He was about to click on Stage 2 immediately, but the "Start Game" button had turned into "Next Step."
"Don't tell me I have to buy premium items now," Kaito muttered, clicking the button.
[Please select a skill to retain. Current slots: 1]
Replication Reconstruction (Locked/Non-selectable)
Twin Familiars
Artillery Support 3
Attack Speed 4
Skill Frequency 2
"Ha, haha. So the devs are waiting for me here. Well, at least there's no 'Pay to Win' button yet."
He shook his head. Stage-based rogue-likes always felt a bit lacking, and the "fun" of the Open World tended to drop off randomly. But keeping one maxed skill would make the start of the next stage much smoother.
"This is a no-brainer. Twin Familiars."
Replication Reconstruction seemed to be a character-specific trait for Stage 1. The other skills weren't maxed, and besides... the XP pickup range in this game was pitifully small. He needed the familiars to compensate.
[Twin Familiars]
Active: Obtain a companion beast.
Passive: Initial energy magnitude increased by 1000 HW.
"St—"
Before he could finish the word "Start," Kaito yanked his VR headset off. A cold hand was stroking his neck. The grip was light, but the icy sensation was incredibly uncomfortable.
"Sis?"
He didn't think much of it at first—he just figured her brain was still a bit fuzzy. Using his strength as an adult male, he easily pried her fingers away.
He reached out to touch Elysia's forehead, checking her temperature.
"Not bad. Feels like the fever's gone down."
He sat on the edge of the bed, locked in a quiet stare with his sister. Actually, her blue eyes are quite pretty too.
"Did I... make you angry in your dream again?" Kaito was the first to break the silence.
Elysia: "..."
She let out a long sigh and leaned against the headboard, bowing her head.
"I'm going to invite a Master over in a few days to check the place out. I suspect there's something 'unclean' in this apartment," she said, lowering her pride.
The dreams over the last few days had become increasingly malicious. Especially after she finally got her revenge in the dream—that guy had the nerve to utter a threat, stare her down, and then kill himself.
"I don't really have any connections in that field. I'll need some time to find someone," Kaito replied.
He wanted to tell her to believe in science, but there was no point in showing off now. Besides, hiring a "Master" wouldn't cost much. If they tried to overcharge him... well, he'd just call the police to report a scam.
"It's okay. I know someone."
Elysia thought of an old friend from her university days when she lived off-campus. She shook her head hard, forcing herself to perk up and muster a smile.
Kaito: "..."
"Well, I think I just found the source of your mental issues, Sis."
He quickly grabbed her pink-cased phone from the side, flicked the screen on, and pointed it at her face. FaceID unlocked it instantly.
Elysia hadn't reacted yet—she really did feel like her mind was compromised lately. But then...
"Hey! Don't look at my chat logs!"
"A beautiful girl's chat history is a secret!" She lunged at him. Kaito didn't move in time and was easily tackled.
It definitely should have stayed a secret.
Pinned to the bed, Kaito's expression went stiff. At the top of her chat app was a pinned group of thirteen people titled: One Big Happy Family.
"...Um, I can actually explain this."
Elysia instinctively shifted her gaze away.